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February 19, 2009
by Kay Murchie
As the housing market continues its slowdown as a result of a lack of mortgage funding and falling property prices, Land Securities is the latest property company to announce a rights issue.
The company, which is Britain's largest property organisation, is to embark on a £755.7 million rights issue and follows on from a £740 ...
by Kay Murchie
The board of Swedish carmaker, Saab, are in talks to consider its future after it was reported that the firm is set to file for protection from creditors.
It was reported that Saab, which is owned by General Motors (GM), is discussing a reorganisation filing, which is an alternative to an outright bankruptcy filing and is the Swedish equivalent of filing ...
by Elaine Frei
The euro gained in relation to the yen, US dollar and pound Thursday on approval of draft legislation in Germany that could lead to the first nationalization of a bank in that nation since the 1930s.
The legislation is aimed at allowing Germany to take control of Hypo Real Estate Holding (FWB: HRX), one of the nation’s biggest commercial property lenders, in ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Norwegian economy has shrank less than expected in the fourth quarter, receding by just 0.2 percent for the non-oil economy, although the latest figure does indicate that both the domestic an foreign demand is falling foul of the credit crunch.
The mainland economy, which excludes shipping and oil, has seen increased activity in general government, which has compensated against further ...
by Peter Charalambous
In January, Britain’s budget surplus was 3.3 billion, which is the smallest for 14 years.
Britain's public sector net cash requirement had a much bigger than expected surplus last month, following a revision due to a statistical reclassification that meant the figure was lowered by around 20 billion pounds, according to official figures released today.
Public finances are still in dire straights ...
by Peter Charalambous
Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q as well as other stores in Europe and China, has said that like-for-like sales have fallen 5.5 percent from November 2008 to the end of January 2009.
B&Q today announced a further 5.9 per cent drop in UK sales and the fact that many products have been discounted heavily has meant that the profit ...
by Peter Charalambous
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have meant a continued demand to BAE Systems, the biggest defence company in Europe.
With armoured vehicles, battlefield radios and bullet-proof vests, its biggest sellers, profits have increased by 94 percent.
The 2009 projections are also anticipated to be strong, although there is likely to be a reduced demand for land vehicles, trading results are ...
by Peter Charalambous
Working alongside Barack Obama, Gordon Brown has revealed plans are afoot to toughen the rules on tax havens such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands which allow investors to take advantage of loopholes and pay less UK tax.
It is by means of further regulatory action that Brown and Obama plan to tackle these jurisdictions having spoken to world leaders.
As part ...
February 18, 2009
by Elaine Frei
A raft of bad news, including lower US industrial production and more declines in home and apartment construction and in the issuance of new building permits in the US sent crude oil prices lower again on Wednesday.
March contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 39 cents to $34.54 per barrel around the close of floor trade on the New York ...
by Elaine Frei
Most European equities markets were lower Wednesday, with banks in focus as most UK banks saw declines even as banks were among the best performers on the CAC-40 in Paris and on the Dax in Frankfurt.
In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.68 percent to 4,006.83 and the FTSE 250 dropped 0.32 percent to 6,245.77.
Declines in banks were led by Royal Bank of Scotland ...
by Peter Charalambous
There is further indication that the central bank of Australia is planning to give the economy a much needed boost, as the minutes of the latest meeting have been revealed.
It seems that a combination of a reduction in interest rates, as well as a further financial stimulus package, will be used in order to kick-start the economy over ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to the latest survey by the Local Government Association (LGA), researchers assessed the packaging of the average shopping basket across eight UK supermarkets and found that 40 percent of the packaging is not easily recycled.
The cost of this is then put on the councils as the excess packaging is estimated to cost £1.8 billion on ...
by Peter Charalambous
Even though consumers are feeling the pinch of the credit crunch, online spending has increased by 19 percent in January, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.
The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales index uses around 80 of the UK’s leading retailers in order to compile data including Asos, Comet, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Next.
The index confirmed that both non-food ...
by Elaine Frei
The US dollar gained on the yen and the euro on Wednesday on a new $75 billion plan from the administration of US President Barack Obama that is designed to slow the number of home foreclosures in the United States by allowing millions of homeowners to refinance their loans with Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).
The yen also ...
by Kay Murchie
Struggling US carmakers, Chrysler and General Motors, have announced major job losses and said they need $21.6 billion (£15.1 billion) between them in order to survive.
The car industry worldwide has suffered as consumers cut back on big ticket items and many other carmakers worldwide have been making major cut backs.
Firstly, General Motors has said it ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Retail Price Index (RPI) that measures inflation is estimated to have dropped further in 2009, having already dropped by 1.3 percent in January from December, which has driven the annual increase to just 0.1 percent which is the lowest since March 1960.
The cost of living according to the RPI dropped, thanks in part to the fall in mortgage interest and ...
February 17, 2009
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices were lower Tuesday as investors worried that the recession will not only continue but deepen before it gets better after new data showed that manufacturing activity contracted significantly in the New York region and that Japan’s economy contracted by 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter/
March contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was down $2.58 to $34.93 per barrel ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to the latest figures announced by the central bank of Greece, the economy of has been hit harder than expected with growth of only 0.5 percent being expected this year after a growth rate of 3.1 percent in 2008.
This has roused the opinion that both fiscal tightening and reforms are urgently needed in order to ride the storm and ...
by Peter Charalambous
Yesterday the Indian government announced that they are going to allocate 301 billion rupees ($6.2bn) towards a rural employment programme within the budget for 2009-2010.
The Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee also announced that within the budget, increases had been made for defense and that the total interim budget stands at 9,532.31 billion rupees ...
by Peter Charalambous
European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet said that the ECB council decision on 5 February defended the interest rate decision back on 15th January, although as anticipated the latest data has confirmed the forecast that the major trading partners of the euro zone have experienced significant problems in the face of the economic downturn.
As a result, Trichet has ...
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